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Aug 24, 2009

Sep 21, 2022

Terpsichore Lyran (Muse of Lyric Poetry)

1816

Antonio Canova

(Italian, 1757–1822)

Italy, 19th century

Marble

Overall: 177.5 x 78.1 x 61 cm (69 7/8 x 30 3/4 x 24 in.)

Weight: 1236 lbs

Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Fund 1968.212

Location

200 Rotunda

Did you know?

Trained by his grandfather, an Italian stonemason, Canova began modeling clay and carving marble sculptures before age ten.

Description

In Greek mythology, Terpsichore was one of the nine Muses, or goddesses of creative inspiration. The lyre, the Greek inscription on the short column, and the caduceus (entwined snakes) on the side identify the figure as Terpsichore Lyran, muse of lyric poetry. This sculpture began with a commission from Napoleon's brother, Lucien, for an idealized portrait of his wife, Alexandrine. Antonio Canova made this version for a British aristocrat and exhibited it in 1817 at the Royal Academy in London to great acclaim.

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Inscriptions

Inscription

inscribed on front of column: "Terpsichore Lyran" [Terpsichore as the Muse of lyric poetry]; inscribed at base of column: "Canova Fact: 1816"

Provenance

Simon H. Clarke, 9th Bt., 1764-1832 (Oak Hill, East Barnet, England);

Alfred de Rothschild, 1842-1918 (Halton, Buckinghamshire, England), by inheritance to his nephew, Lionel de Rothschild, 1918;

Lionel Nathan de Rothschild, 1882-1942 (Exbury, Hampshire, England), 1918-1942, by inheritance to his first son, Edmund Leopold de Rothschild, 1942;

Edmund Leopold de Rothschild, born 1916 (Exbury, Hampshire, England), sold to Wildenstein & Co., 1963;

Wildenstein & Co. (New York, New York), sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art, 1968.

1968-

The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH

Citations

Teotochi Albrizzi, Isabella, Leopoldo Cicognara, and Henry Moses. The Works of Antonio Canova: In Sculpture and Modelling. London: S. Prowett, 1824.

Lee, Sherman E. "The Year in Review for 1968." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 56, no. 1 (1969): 3-50. www.jstor.org

Honour, Hugh. "Canova's Statue of a Dancer." The National Gallery of Canada Bulletin Vol. 6, no. 1 (November 1968): 4-31. Reproduced: p. 7, fig. 4

The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 164 archive.org

The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art LVI (September 1969): 287-302. Reproduced: pp. 288-290, 292, 295

L'opera completa del Canova. Milano, Italy: Rizzoli, 1976. Reproduced: p.119, no. 212

The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 203 archive.org

Licht, Fred, and David Finn. Canova. New York, New York: Abbeville Press, 1983. Mentioned and reproduced: pp. 210-213

Borowitz, Helen O. The Impact of Art on French Literature: From De Scudéry to Proust. Newark, Delaware: University of Delaware Press, 1985. Mentioned: p. 57; Reproduced: p. 58

Donley, Gregory M, "A Discerning Eye", Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland Art: The Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine. Vol. 39 no. 05, May 1999 Mentioned & reproduced: p. 6 archive.org

Weisser, Silja Mareke. Der Tanz als Darstellungsproblem der Skulptur im 19. Jahrhundert: unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Interdependenz zwischen Ballett und Skulptur. Frankfurt am Main: P. Lang, 2000. Mentioned: p. 281; Reproduced: p. 301

May, Sally Ruth, Jane Takac, and Barbara J. Bradley. Knockouts: A Pocket Guide. Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2001. Reproduced: p. 56; Mentioned: p. 117

Franklin, David. Director's Choice: The Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2012. Reproduced and mentioned: pp. 50-51

Treasures of the Cleveland Museum of Art. London, United Kingdom: Scala Books, 2012. Mentioned and reproduced: pp. 224-225

Cleveland Museum of Art. The CMA Companion: A Guide to the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2014. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 286

Dickerson, C. D., Antonio Canova, Emerson Bowyer, Anthony Sigel, and Elyse Nelson. Canova: Sketching in Clay. Washington : National Gallery of Art ; [Chicago, Illinois] : The Art Institute of Chicago, 2023. Mentioned; pp. 46-47; Reproduced; p. 46, Fig. 26; pl. 41

Exhibition history

Royal Academy, London, United Kingdom (1817).

Year in Review: 1968. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 29-March 9, 1969).

Canova: Sketching in Clay. National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC (organizer) (June 11-October 9, 2023) https://www.nga.gov/exhibitions/2023/canova-sketching-in-clay.html.

Cite this page

{{cite web|title=Terpsichore Lyran (Muse of Lyric Poetry)|url=https://clevelandart.org/art/1968.212|author=Antonio Canova|year=1816|access-date=02 November 2023|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

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Terpsichore Lyran (Muse of Lyric Poetry)

Terpsichore Lyran (Muse of Lyric Poetry)

Antonio Canova

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